The Kiwi-NRL Summer Guide moves into New South Wales to cover Newcastle Knights, Manly Sea Eagles, South Sydney Rabbitohs and Sydney Roosters. You can check in with the Queensland NRL teams and New Zealand Warriors in the links below.

New Zealand Warriors Wider Squad & Summer Training Break Down Ahead Of 2025 NRL Season

2024/25 Kiwi-NRL Summer Guide: Cowboys, Dolphins, Broncos, Titans

Newcastle Knights

Sebastian Su'a (Mt Albert) and Francis Manuleleua (Papatoetoe) are in the Knights' top-30. Su'a made his NRL debut last season and will be pushing for a consistent bench spot as a middle forward next season, which will probably start by adding to his 30 games of NSW Cup as a 21-year-old.

Knights also added Tyrone Thompson (Maraenui) to their supplementary list and he is likely to follow twin brother Leo in becoming a middle forward. The twins have different rugby union backgrounds as Leo played in the midfield and Tyrone was a hooker, so it will be interesting to track Tyrone's development and what skills he offers in NSW Cup.

That gives Knights three Kiwi-NRL middle forwards to watch out for in the Thompson twins and Su'a. Manuleleua will be aiming to lock down a starting role in NSW Cup to start the season and given his pedigree in Aotearoa, there's a chance that Manuleleua emerges as a Kiwi-NRL debutant later next season.

Manuleleua played rugby union at Kings College which is the same school that Su'a went to, while also juggling rugby league in the NZ Warriors system. After leaving school as one of Aotearoa's best rugby league/union players, Manuelelua joined Panthers where he spent two years in the best rugby league development system.

Peter O'Sullivan was working at Dolphins where his appreciation of Aotearoa 1st 15 talent was evident in their recruitment and he joined Knights earlier this year, where his appreciation of 1st 15 talent is already on display. O'Sullivan was working at NZ Warriors when Manuleleua and when Knights announced the signing of Manuelelua, I connected all the dots in our newsletter...

Recruitment guru Peter O'Sullivan made a sneaky shift from Dolphins to Knights a few weeks ago. O'Sullivan had a stint with NZW a few years ago (2018-2021) which overlaps with Manuleleua's time at Mt Smart. GM of Football Brian Smith said this in 2019 after a Future Warriors game...
“It was hard to single out one player among some great performers but Francis showed his class. It is extra special considering he is still only 14 years of age"
O'Sullivan said this about signing Manuleleua to Knights (among many kind words)...
“I’ve watched him play since he was Fourteen"

Manuleleua was primarily a half in junior rugby league and played midfield in 1st 15. During his time at Panthers, Manuleleua played edge forward in his 16 games for Panthers Under 21s. This highlights how O'Sullivan views Manuleleua as he is leaping up from Panthers Jersey Flegg to an NRL top-30 contract, although he will probably spend most, if not all of next seaon in NSW Cup.

Knights had one of the funkiest Kiwi-NRL pipelines before O'Sullivan joined their recruitment/development crew. Below the top-30/supplementary tier are the Train/Trial lads in Elijah Salesa-Leaumona (Mangere East), Haami Loza (Mangere East/Otara) and Bailey Carmichael (Te Puke).

Leaumoana is an edge forward who dabbled in NSW Cup footy last season. Jarome Falemoe went to Southern Cross Campus with Leaumoana (Leka Halasima too) and played in the Knights U21s team as a centre/edge forward.

Loza and Carmichael started the year in Under 19 SG Ball and finished in U21s, now they have Train/Trial deals. Loza is a play-maker who has emerged as one of the best halves from Aotearoa signed to an Australia team, while Carmichael is a middle forward.

Winger Sosaia Latu (Mangere East) isn't in the contract brackets but he was announced as signing a long term deal with Knights. Also in this group of Kiwi-NRL juniors who played U21s this year for Knights and are not listed in the contract lists are forwards Te Kaio Cranwell (Linwood), Jayden Harris (Kohukohu), Tamakaimoana Whareaorere (Te Puke) and winger Tea-Rani Woodman-Tuhoro (Takahiwai).

Knights have always been among the busiest Kiwi-NRL recruitment teams and their investment in bringing lads over from Aotearoa suggests that those not listed in the contracts will still be with Knights. This is balanced by how various Kiwi-NRL juniors who moved from Aotearoa to Newcastle, departed Knights just as their NRL careers were finding momentum (Starford To'a - Mt Wellington and Simi Sasagi - Ellerslie are two easy examples).

Manly Sea Eagles

Marist junior Ramond Tuaimalo-Vaega is locked in for another season with Sea Eagles at the top-30 level. Manurewa junior D'Jazirhae Pua'avase has joined Sea Eagles from Cowboys and is in the supplementary/development tier as a middle forward who could sneak into the Sea Eagles NRL mix if he churns out impressive mahi in NSW Cup.

Another middle forward on the rise for Sea Eagles is Devante Mihinui (Glenora) who is in his second year at Manly and is listed on a Train/Trial contract. Mihinui played 21 games of U21s last season, as well as four NSW Cup games in which he came off the bench and played 20+ minutes in all four games (73 tackles made, 1 tackle missed is a funky stat).

Now Mihinui will aim to settle in NSW Cup as a regular bench forward who should develop into a starter later in the season. Oliver Lawry (West Coast/Halswell) is another Kiwi-NRL junior to track in the Sea Eagles system, assuming he has stayed with Manly as he isn't listed in the official contract bracket.

Lawry left Christchurch to join the Tigers system. Tigers made mention of the "New Zealand recruit, Oliver Lawry also took part in a handful of NRL training sessions over pre-season, and is a big and skilful half" at the start of 2023. Lawry was then listed in the Tigers U21 squad earlier this year but made a move to Sea Eagles where he plugged holes in the halves but mainly played as a centre.

Lawry played 18 games of U21s and two NSW Cup games, both of which were at centre. Given the way Sea Eagles snapped up Lawry from Tigers, it's a strong assumption that he is still with Manly and he is in the same zone as Mihinui in chasing regular NSW Cup game time.

A funky note about Lawry is that he was a #10 in rugby union and this came in Canterbury's 1st 15 competition where there is no shortage of quality first-fives. Lawry was a #10 in representative footy for Tasman as well, which is one of Aotearoa's best rugby union development systems.

This was aligned with him rising through the NZRL pathway as a play-maker. His move from Tigers to Sea Eagles coincided with a move to centre, but Lawry has a wide range of play-making skills that could be boosted by a strong development system at Sea Eagles.

South Sydney Rabbitohs

To showcase the confusing landscape of NRL contracts, Marist junior Nazareth Taua is not listed in the NRL.com supplementary list but he is listed in this tier by Rabbioths. Credit to Rabbitohs for comprehensive squad lists that were offered early in the summer and as most NRL teams do not provide these lists, Rabbitohs have done the best mahi in laying out their pipeline information.

Taua joined Rabbitohs after a couple years in Queensland and played five games of U21s this year. This is boosted by Taua being listed in the 2024 Rabbitohs U19 squad at the end of last year, meaning he was eligible for U19s but only played U21s and now he is on the fringe of their NRL squad. Taua is mainly a middle forward who could cover edge forward and he is likey to start next season in NSW Cup.

Salesi Ataata (Otahuhu) has moved from Sharks to Rabbitohs and is listed by Rabbitohs in their summer training/NSW Cup squad. After leaving Auckland to join Sharks, Ataata played two years of 20+ games in U21s and stepped up for six NSW Cup games with Newtown Jets as a middle forward.

Rabbitohs also have Bayleigh Bentley-Hape (Kawakawa) who is listed in their NSW Cup squad. Bentley-Hape was initially recruited from Aotearoa by Roosters and switched to Rabbitohs for 2023, which saw him progress to 20 games of NSW Cup this year. Bentley-Hape mainly played fullback for the NSW Cup Rabbitohs but he also dabbed in halves mahi and centre, highlighting his ability and potential.

Lennix Tovo is a fresh addition to the wider Rabbitohs squad on a Train/Trial deal via the Rabbitohs connection with Townsville. After coming through Levin College Old Boys rugby union and representing Horowhenua Kapiti, Tovo moved to Australia where he played rugby union for Tuggeranong in Canberra and ended up in Townsville last season where he played 13 games of Queensland Cup.

Tovo started with 10 minutes off the bench in round six and then settled at fullback from round nine onwards. In his 13 games, Tovo scored seven tries with six try assists and averaged 137m/game. While nothing is locked in with a Train/Trial contract, especially after playing his first season on reserve grade, Tovo has commanded attention at every level he's played and the fact that he has gone from an impressive 20-year-old with Levin College Old Boys in 2021 to earning a fringe NRL opportunity at the end of 2024 suggests that Tovo is a sneaky talent to keep track of.

Sydney Roosters

There are no Kiwi-NRL juniors below the Naufahu Whyte (Bay Roskill) and Siua Wong (Burnham/Manurewa) level in the Roosters top-30 or supplementary list. Hooker Benaiah Ioelu is part of the Train/Trial group and the Tangaroa College 1st 15 play-maker who played league at Howick/Mt Albert has steadily progressed through the Roosters system after leaving Auckland.

Ioelu played 10 games of NSW Cup this season, mainly coming off the bench but with two starts at dummy half. While Ioelu is the only Kiwi-NRL junior listed in the contracts, Roosters also have Manurewa junior Salesi Foketi who has been on the same journey as Ioelu and he rolled through 15 games of NSW Cup mainly playing edge forward.

Lafi Tuinauvai (Waitemata) played 23 games of U21s for Roosters and elevated to one game of NSW Cup as a middle forward. All these lads have been in the Roosters system for at least three years and while the Roosters Kiwi-NRL crew is diminishing at the top-tier, Roosters still have high quality Kiwi-NRL juniors pushing for consistent NSW Cup roles. Foketi has the most upside in hunting an NRL debut next season.

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